Overwatch: Archives guide

Our Overwatch Archives guide contains everything we know about this special event coming to the game very soon.

Overwatch Archives is an entirely revamped version of the game’s previous Uprising event, and brings with it some very exciting content. When it first launched last year, Uprising turned back the clock and gave players the opportunity to fight through Tracer’s first mission as part of the original Overwatch team in a special PVE event mode.

Alongside an influx of fresh cosmetics, it proved to be one of the community’s favourite Overwatch events. “Archives” is a reference to past events in Overwatch’s history from a lore perspective, so Uprising now falls under its umbrella. This means that it’ll present an all new PVE mission for us to play when the event arrives later on this month!

Information about Archives is pretty limited right now, but we’ve put together everything we know so far about the event and we’ll keep it updated with all the latest as more is revealed over the next week or so - keep this page bookmarked!

Overwatch Storm Rising Announced!

Blizzard has just revealed what's likely to be the next Overwatch Archives event with a brand new teaser shared on its social media channels. It's an intriguing message from a new character called "Sojourn", and we've embedded it down below so you can have a listen:

Sojourn seems to be in a position of authority, contacting Soldier:76 (Commander Morrison) and explaining how their team is going about catching Doomfist the wrong way. They need to be going after Doomfist's accountant Maximilien, instead.

"Commander Morrison. I have a proposal. We're going at catching Doomfist the wrong way. He's clean, but his accountant Maximilien? Follow the money and you'll find the dirt you need. I know you’re worried about sending the strike team out again after what happened with Reinhardt. But I’ve been working with them and I know they’re ready.”

The rest of the message outlines who is likely to be playable for this event.

"I'm putting Tracer in charge, with Mercy, Winston, and Genji in support. She's grown as a leader since the King's Row mission, and I know you'll agree. Call me back when you get this. And commander - trust me, they'll get it done. Sojourn out."

Right at the end of the video we're given a release date. Overwatch Storm Rising will be arriving on the 16th April and running through to the 6th of May, so not long to go until we can hop in!

Original Article

Overwatch Archives: Quick Overview

Overview

Here’s a brief summary of all the details revealed about Overwatch Archives thus far.

Both the Uprising and Uprising Brawl modes will be available to play again. From what’s been revealed so far, there are going to be no changes to these modes.

There’s going to be a brand new PVE mode. We imagine it’ll work similarly to Uprising in that it’ll be a four player campaign that’ll see you fight through a significant event in Overwatch’s past and it’ll be entitled “Retribution”.

A new Legendary Skin for Genji or Hanzo will be released.

We expect to see a bucket-load of other cosmetic rewards too.

All previous Uprising Loot Box rewards will be available during this event.

We’ll find out more about Overwatch Archives on Wednesday 4th April 2018 as something is going to be announced during the Overwatch League broadcast. A gameplay trailer perhaps?

Below we’ve linked a developer update video which gives us first details on what we can expect from Overwatch Archives.

Overwatch Archives: Community Insight

Community thoughts

In the developer update we’ve linked above, Game Director Jeff Kaplan states that a brand new skin for our favourite Shimada brother will be dropping with the Overwatch Archives event. Naturally, this has driven the community wild with expectant skin speculation. Turns out most players believe that Hanzo will receive a new cosmetic considering that Genji has seen a lot of love lately - or maybe we’ll see both receive a new skin to satisfy everyone? We’ll find out soon enough.

Kaplan also mentions the term “Retribution” at the end of the update which suggests that this will be the brand new PVE mode landing with Archives. There’s talk that it could be a campaign that focuses on the historic rivalry between Genji and Hanzo, which also ties into the introduction of a new skin for one (or both) heroes.

Other members of the community believe that Retribution could be a reference to Blackwatch’s exploits with Moira, Genji, McCree and Reaper being involved somehow. We’d certainly be up for this!

That's all we have for now, but we'll completely overhaul this guide once more information is released very shortly. Keep this page bookmarked for big developments soon!